Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, June 6, 1993 TAG: 9306060093
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Jack Bogaczyk
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
There's hope for a sporting life in the Roanoke Valley yet. First, there's the enthusiasm for the ECHL's new Express, and now there's the return of the Roanoke Valley Sports Club.
The former club died from lack of interest about a decade ago. The new club was born with 155 members at $25 annually, with plans for monthly dinner meetings open to members and guests and starting with a possible September doubleheader.
Club president Dan Wooldridge, the Old Dominion Athletic Conference commissioner and former football and basketball official, said he expected to double the current membership. While the old sports club attracted few except those interested in college athletics, the new club promises to have a wider spectrum of speakers.
If it doesn't, it won't last.
In September, the plan is to begin with a program involving the NBA's Charlotte Hornets. Later in the month, the club plans to have a NASCAR driver speak a few days before the Goody's 500 at Martinsville Speedway.
The October dinner will include an ACC program, with Georgia Tech basketball coach Bobby Cremins already committed as a speaker. The November dinner will be devoted to the Stagg Bowl, the NCAA Division III football championship game to be played Dec. 11 in Salem.
Interested? Wooldridge welcomes calls at 389-7373.
\ PARK IT: You had to wonder how long it would take before the valley's never-satisfied sports fans would nitpick about hockey's return to the Roanoke Civic Center. Well, it's happened.
Some fans have complained about having to pay a $2 parking fee per game in the civic center lot. One even suggested to this columnist that the hockey club should pick up or waive the fee. The Express isn't charging for parking. The City of Roanoke is.
One reason the civic center could negotiate a very fair lease with the ECHL club was the projected parking and concessions revenue the arena will receive. As for the parking fee, $2 certainly isn't exorbitant. The civic center's fee has been $1 per car for more than 12 years.
ECHL fans this season will pay $2 to $5 to park in Richmond, depending on the lot's proximity to the coliseum. The fee in Greensboro and Charlotte, N.C., is $3, and it's $2 in Norfolk and Hampton.
The only thing unreasonable about the civic center's parking fee is the carping about it.
\ RING THING: Riddick Bowe, one of boxing's heavyweight champs, wants to fight Tommy Morrison next if Morrison sends George Foreman from the list of pretenders Monday night. If that happens, Western Virginia could profit heavily from the next title bout.
Morrison wants to return to train at VMI, where he prepared for the Foreman bout. Bowe liked the weeks he spent at The Homestead before his last fight and is talking about coming back to Hot Springs. However, if Morrison wins, he's talking about fighting World Boxing Council heavyweight king Lennox Lewis next. Morrison said the British champ would split a purse 50-50. Bowe's manager, Rock Newman, is offering Morrison only 30 percent.
One of the most incredible statistics heading into the Morrison-Foreman fight is the low-fat, low-sodium diet Morrison was on at the end of his VMI stay. "I was trying to take in 6,500 calories a day while staying below 20 grams of fat," he said.
\ STAGG PARTY: Tickets will go on sale this month for the first Stagg Bowl in Salem, and no one should complain about the prices to attend an NCAA Division III championship game.
Game director Carey Harveycutter said tickets will cost $8 in advance and $10 on the Dec. 11 game day, while high school seniors and younger will pay $5. All 8,000 Salem Stadium seats will be reserved. When those are sold, the Stagg Bowl will begin selling standing-room or grass-bank tickets behind the end zone.
\ FAST FOOD: For ECHL games at the Roanoke Civic Center, will there be an "Express line" for concessions?
by CNB